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Poached Eggs Recipe

This poached eggs recipe will guide you to good results every time. Poaching is a delicious, low calorie way
to enjoy an egg. Its simplicity allows you to concentrate on the taste of the egg itself and poaching
virtually guarantees a wonderfully textured result . Once you know how to poach an egg, you can try them
in a French poached eggs recipe.
To Poach an Egg

Poaching an egg, like many things, is easy once you've tried it and understood what needs to be done. If
you haven't tried, or tried without knowing the right technique, a poached eggs recipe can seem like a daunting task.

There is one big secret to a perfect poached egg. Are you ready to find out?

Use the very freshest eggs possible.

Less then seven days old is good. If you just took it out of the
chicken coop, that's even better. The fresher an egg is, the more quickly the white will coagulate, and the
quicker that happens, the less time the egg has to spread out as it is cooking. You get a nice rounded,
compact poached egg.

So start with the freshest eggs possible and then follow these steps:

Put a pot of water on to boil. If you are making just one poached egg, this can be small. If you are making several, use a larger pot.

Add a teaspoon or so of salt and several tablespoons of vinegar to the water. The vinegar will help coagulate the egg white. If you use white vinegar it will have no effect on the color of the eggs, and don't worry it doesn't effect the taste.

Once the water has boiled, turn it down until it is just barely boiling (that means one line of bubbles rising up from the bottom). The water has to be hot enough to cook the egg yolk, but if it is boiling rapidly it will break up the egg before it coagulates.

Crack the egg into a small dish and then slide the egg quickly into the water. If you are using very fresh eggs and have added your vinegar, the egg white should coagulate immediately. You can use a spoon to quickly gather any straying bits and push them together on the side of the pan to get a nice clump of an egg.

Follow step 4 for each egg. Even in a large pot, three or four eggs at once is enough.

Once all of the whites have coagulated, you can turn up the heat some. The egg yolk needs to reach 100 degrees C (the boiling point of water) in order to cook, but don't bring the water to a racing boil as that will cause your eggs to disintegrate and make the whites rubbery.

Cooking times are: 2-3 minutes for runny yolks, 3-4 minutes for medium yolks, and 4-5 minutes for coagulated, but not overdone yolks.

Remove the eggs from the hot water with a slotted spoon, draining all of the water from the egg. I also find a spaghetti serving spoon to be perfect for this job. Place the egg on some folded paper towel to get rid of any excess water before serving.

If you can, serve your poached eggs recipe right away. Otherwise, you can have them wait in a bowl of warm water and
when you are ready to serve, heat them in near boiling water for a minute or so.

Please note that you should eat your poached eggs quickly. Don't let them sit around all morning at room
temperature. If you are serving them cold, then into the refrigerator they go.

The French sometimes like to trim the unsightly edges of a poached egg so that they end up with a nice
smooth shape. They call this ebarber (to trim). Unnecessary, but maybe you like your eggs with a
clean shave.

Poached Eggs Recipes from France

You'll find poached eggs or oeufs poches served both hot and cold in France. Here are some ideas:

Warm poached eggs are served on grilled bread and topped with different French sauces including Mornay sauce,
mustard sauce, mushroom sauce,and shrimp sauce.

Try a croissant in place of the grilled bread in your poached egg recipe.

Smoked salmon, capers, and tarragon are all popular accompaniments.

Poached eggs in red wine. In this poached eggs recipe, they are poached in simmering wine, perhaps a Beaujolais, that has been seasoned with herbs, pepper, and onions. Once the eggs are cooked, the strained wine is used to prepare a roux based sauce that is served on top of the warm eggs.

Cold poached eggs (for these I'd definitely stick with eggs that have been cooked until the yolks are firm) can be served on a bed of shredded lettuce and topped with mayonnaise or Roquefort cheese dressing.

Oeuf poche Benedicte. This classic combination of poached eggs served on English muffins and topped with grilled ham and
Hollandaise sauce is also popular in France.

Oeuf poche Bragnace: Poached egg on top of a grilled tomato, topped with Bernaise sauce
and decorated with tarragon leaves.

Oeuf poche Toupinel: Here the poached egg is placed inside a baked potato that has been partially emptied and then restuffed with mashed potatoes and spinach. After topping with Mornay sauce and cheese, the egg stuffed potato is baked for several minutes.